Automated Flight Following (“AFF”) systems comprising a GPS receiver and a satellite modem are common. In such systems, a position report of the aircraft is generated periodically and transmitted to a ground station comprising a computer and software for flight tracking and post-flight analysis. However, the high cost of satellite bandwidth often limits the frequency with which position reports are generated and transmitted. For applications where aircraft operators bill their customers based on received GPS position reports, the limited transmission frequency can lead to a reduced billable distance traveled.
To explain further, in air transport markets where billing is calculated based on a “loaded mile”, or cumulative distance traveled, GPS position reports generated by an AFF system are often used to determine the billable distance for a flight. Since the position reports are transmitted over a satellite link, the frequency of the GPS reports is often limited to reduce communications costs, typically between 1 and 15 minutes between transmitted reports. Depending on the flight path of the aircraft, this can lead missed revenue opportunities due to the error in estimating actual distance traveled due infrequent position reporting. As shown in FIG. 1, position data taken at locations B1, B2 and B3 are used to estimate the distance traveled as being the path formed from C1 and C2, which does not reflect the actual distance traveled along actual flight path A.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a device/apparatus/system/method/process that overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art.